Artificial flowers and process of making the same



Patented Oct. 22, 1929 UNITEDsTATEs PATENr er1-uca DELLA BUTCER, OFLCHEHALIS, WASHINGTON i'ARTHICIA-L FLOWERSAND EROCESS MAKING THE SAME Application med March l14, 192s. serial No, 261,450.

Y 5 flower, and which are of line texture, capable of `being' curled -or molded into vvarious shapes, more or less flexlble and durable, and

capable of being colored in; various colors to represent the natural-newer. Such flowers are intended'for `home decoration,for personal adornment, and-for other uses to which natural or artificial flowers are put. l

A further object .is the production of an artificial flower of the general vcharacter described from a natural vegetable product, which is abundant and cheap, and which is notdiiiicultto work.

f My invention comprises the novel article and the novel process of preparing the same,

zo'as described in this specification and as defined by the claims accompanying the same; the drawings :illustrate the article andl the method' of its manufacture.

Figure 1` illustrates the first stage` of the process-and'Figure 2 the next stage'.4

Figures 3 and l are respectively plan and an elevation of'a .completed'flowe'r of one type, while Figure 5v is a similar view of' a completed flower of a different type.

Heretofore, 'in' the manufacture of arti'- ficial flowers, considerable time and skill has been employed in shaping the petals properly, but owing to the texture of the fabric or other materials used v(heightened in some cases by the painter dye employed), the flowers have not appeared natural, but rather thick and heavy and unnatural. Such and thus can have no veining such as naturally occurs 'in the petals and sepals of a flower, except such as may be supplied bypainting, the unnaturalness ofwhich is self-apparent.

I have discovered that flowers of all types, shapes, sizes and varieties', may be made from the skins of bulbous roots, such as the onion, hyacinth, Crocus, gladiolus, garlic, leeks, etc., to incorporate into ythe petal or sepal the natural veining of the bulbs skin, to simulate the natural veining ofthe flower petal, and

hence when made up into the artificial flower, even though painted, dyed, or otherwise colored or preserved, this veining will appearas an undertone or background, and the natural line texture of the skin will give to the flower thus made up a naturalness which cannot be approached by other articial flowers 0f which I am aware.

As I .have noted above, the skin of various bulbs of the genus allium, or allied bulbs of the order liliaceae, will be found suitable for such purposes, but ordinarily it will be `uneconomical to employ other than onion skins, garlic skins, or the skins of like bulbs which are comparatively plentiful and cheap, Therefore, while I shall describe fthe process and theproduct as relates to manufacture from onion skins, it willfbe understood that'this is illustrative only, and not definitive.. It should also beunderstood that the term petals may-also include the sepals of a flower, for the'sepals of narciss'us, for example, are particularly well imitated by the use of these onion skins.

Briefly, my process consists in preparing an onion, by removing the brittle and dried louter skin, then either scoring the Aonion circumferentiallyvr to cut through the outer layers of its skin, or cutting the onion squarely across, so as to divide it into an upper part and a lower part, or otherwise cutting Vthrough the outer skins so that they may be separated from ythe body of the onion. Usually the onion would be cut in halves, `at the plane of its greatest transverse diameter; this first step is illustrated in Figure l, where a knife K is shownl cutting an onion into the upper half 1 and lower half 2. i flowers are usually made of a woven fabric,

'would fall in the center of the finished flower and would, therefore, oer no means of supporting the petal,'and second, that the delicate veining'is not so pronounced as it is at the base 0f the stem, and it is this veining which is particularly desirable in the petals.

:The upper half l has the remains .of-the stem ofthe onion, as indicated at 4, andthis offers a means for supporting the petals and of securing them to a stem. In some instances, however, I may skin back the skin from the lower half, cutting through the base of the roots at 3, and these roots themselves within the cupped skin, will simulate stamens. i

Assume, then, that the upper half l is taken; its outer skin is separated from the remainder of the onion in some suitable fashion,as, for example, by the insertion of the tips of the fingers beneath the skin, and then it is worked off with a somewhat rotary and prying motion of the fingers relative to the onion half l. It ywill be obvious that any suitable instrument might be used for this purpose, and one may well be used to start the skin, but `the fingers are best em- `ployed throughout the operation, for `the reason that the operator can always feel if too great a strain is being placed on the skin, which usually it is desired to remove intact, without splitting or breaking. For certain owers, of course, 'such as pansies, roses, dogwood, and others, wherein the petals do not extend entirely about the circumference 'of the flower, kthe petals may be formed of broken or split segments of the skin, but for such flowers aspoppies, the petals of which are cup'shaped, it is essential that the skin be not broken. The operation of removing the skin is illustrated in Figure 2,

except as the skin may be thrown back from the lower half 2 to permit 'cutting through the roots, or when the entire skin, from root to tip is employed. In the latter case, it may be slit longitudinally of the lower half, and then the lower half skinned off in the usual manner.

Now, with the skin removed, it may at once be shaped by cutting, folding, curling or like operations. For making carnations, for example, the skin when freshly removed may be folded `and then serrated at its edges to show the jagged eect of the Carnation petals, and may then be crushed into a compact mass. VFor the dogwood, illustrated 'in Figures 3 and 4, the petals may simply' be cut to shape, retaining 'the natural curvature of the skin. For roses, where -it is desired to have the edges curled, they may be curled over while the skin is still fresh and moist--for example, in Figure 5, is illustrated the blossom of a fuchsia, wherein the petals 6 were shaped by .cutting and folding when freshly removed, and the sepals 7 were cut to shape from a single ,skin and then curled backward.

After any shaping operation which lmay be required has been completed, the skins are laid away to dry. It is desirable, of course, that they be not dried so rapidly as to cau-se them to become brittle,or crack, or to crinkle, and 4ordinarily suc-h drying requires a week or two. `The slower the drying, the less likely are the skins to become brittle, although after drying they can be toughened by dipping or boiling for a short time in hot water,

hot oil, or melted paralfne. Drying in the dark tends to enrich the reddish or maroon color which the skins take on. For cupped flowers, 4as tulips, the skins may be somewhat held in shape while drying, as by placing them in a vcup or glass. This has the further advantage of preventing too free access .of air to the skinarand .slows up the drying.

large extent. However, it will be evident,

from Figure 4, particularly, that the various pet-als 8 each have the end '9, which formed a part of the ti-p 4 of the onion, and these ends 9 may be grouped about la wire 10, or like support, andbe bound, Ior glued, or held in place by wax, or infact in any manner which is employed in the `'manufacture of artificial flowers from .other material.

In many instances the petals, when dried, will be found to have a light reddish or even a buff color, which closely simulates certain flowers.; for example, artificial roses, poppies, -dogwood blossoms, pansies, dahlias, and the like, may bemade up in .this fashion and no coloring is required. Other flowers, of course, 'and varieties of the flowers named, will require coloring, and this 'may be done in various ways and at different stages in vao the process. Usually, if there is to be a back- Y ever, dipping `:in paraiiine, wax, or boiling` water or oil, tends to reserve the petal, and for this lreason may e found desirable in some instances.

' lVhere there is a color to be superimposed on the ground color of the petal, or where centers are to be put in, as in pansies, geraniums, amary-llis and the like, .it will .usually be found best to apply these by painting after the flower has been made up. It will be understood, of course, 'that the entire coloring of the flowermay be done by painting in this manner. l c

Various lsorts-ofcenters will be employed for such Iflowers as require them-for example, `in the dogwood shown in Figure 3 an ordinary brown velvet covered button B is employed' upon the end of a Wire stem..y Figure the group of stamens and pistil of v thel fuchsia, ,indicatedat 11is'supplied by Y thread or'lightWires,1vvhich',are bound in i p 2:5'. with the petal 6 andseI'alsZE, .Genters may Y be formed of 'the roots,"*ying` jvv-ithinthe'V cupped skin ofthe lower half'2., l. ,i Y, .A f y i j ln case it is desired to furth 'r siliapeaA petaly 1 f `after it hasdried, this may be dOlie byilippirig thepetal, or` the part thereof'tolbeformed, in'War'm intento-soften andfmoisteniitfafte :l which it canbeformed-inthe shape desire4 flowers with; indeiitedor-yspiked j petalf suoli asnvarci's'sus'gd` ifodils, fuchsia's',jl aina a1"5"l is,.etc' jthe -petls'f i bash -d'll'r" folcling"fth1eskinWhe als, I v -fcutting to-sliape 1F-The foldslrouldfbe`:kept on4 ,the veining lines fof 'the onioiiskinl 'an'diihQW-j- ,ers such,asthejfuchsia, vvherex th'esepal's'7- i@ 7 urve back-Wards, mustbegciitfdeeply"enough I to make tli'ebackv'vard turn `desiredf- A L The' processldescribed above-canjbe em,- ployed with bulbs of all shapes and sizes'gf even small onionfsets can be" employed in 23 this manner, as these make up geraniums, apple blossoms and the like of very -natural appearance.

What I claim as my invention is l. The process of making artificial flowers which consists in removing the outer skin of an onion or like bulb, drying the skin, toughening the skin byv dipping' ina hot liquid, and finally vassembling upon a support. i 2. The process of making artificial owers Which consists in cutting transversely'through Y the outer skin of an' onion or like bulb to divide such skin into upper and lower portions, separating the skin thus cut through from the body of the bulb, shapingthe removed skin 40 as desired, drying the shaped skin', and assembling upon a support.

3. Those steps in the process of makingv artificial iiowers from the skins of onions or like bulbs, which consist in cutting transversely throughthe outer Whole skin of the bulb, and separating the skin thus cut through from the body of the bulb, oldin the skin along` the vein lines to the Width o petal desired, and shaping the petals, prior to drying. 4. An artificial iioWer comprising petals of the skin of an onion or like bulb, shaped and curled tosimulate the natural oWer, and dried to retain such shape, and a central support about which such petals are grouped, the petals being s o supported thereon that the natural veining of'A Lthe skins f radiates from the cen-ter of'theflovveri. 5 y Signed'plat'Ghehalis, LeWiswGo'unty, Wash- "ington, thisSth day 'of March, 1928;

, v if l, BUTGHER. 

